Most Christians in northeastern Syria are either the descendants of people who fled from the Turks during and after World War I, or they are people who fled there in the past few years from ISIS. When Turkey attacks a Christian neighborhood in Qamlishi (as it did at the start of its operation), or when its proxies attack a Christian church (as they did in October), or when newly resurgent Islamist terrorists kill Armenian Catholic priests — Mideast Christians and their allies are reminded of the worst of the last century’s barbarous acts.

Then there is Lebanon, where recent protests have targeted both widespread corruption and the Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah, which serves as Iran’s proxy in that country.

So far, the Lebanese state’s response has been largely nonviolent. But there is a real fear among the Christians that if the Lebanese economy collapses, the largely Christian-controlled Lebanese army may fall. The ensuing economic chaos in Lebanon may plunge the country into crisis and the mass exodus of the last statistically substantial group of Christians in any country in the Middle East.

Many Christians persecuted elsewhere in the region have fled to Lebanon. If Lebanon were to lose its gift for pluralism, that could spell the end of the concept in the rest of the region.